In 2004, the Government announced a new process to examine the performance of Regional Development Agencies (RDAs). The Independent Performance Assessment (IPA) is designed to provide an independent and publicly reported assessment of the activities of RDAs. 
 
The National Audit Office are carrying out this assessment of RDAs including the South West RDA to establish how far we are achieving our ambitions, meeting the needs of the region and providing economic leadership.

Why assess RDAs?

The Independent Performance Assessment will allow RDAs, Government, partners and key stakeholders to understand the role and performance of the RDAs as strategic drivers of regional economic development. It will provide an assessment of organisational performance, including capacity, and assist in developing a plan outlining the action that the RDA is going to undertake to deliver continuous improvement.

Independent Performance Assessment Report Published

The South West RDA has been assessed as "performing well" by the National Audit Office (NAO), the main independent watchdog for government agencies. Click on the link below to read the report. 
 
Independent Performance Assessment Report (Adobe Acrobat Reader Document - 201.59kb)

The assessment process

The IPA model is similar to the Comprehensive Performance Assessment process used in local authorities.  
 
The main elements of the approach to the IPA are:

• Self assessment against the assessment framework (or Key Lines of Enquiry). South West RDA Self Assessment 2006 (Adobe Acrobat Reader Document - 875.97kb);
• A review of this self assessment and supporting evidence by the NAO, leading to focused on-site work at the RDA and with key stakeholders to validate the self assessment; and
• the published assessment with overall score taken from the combined scores against each Key Line of Enquiry. Independent Performance Assessment Report (Adobe Acrobat Reader Document - 201.59kb)

South West RDA's self assessment

The self assessment document represents our view on how well we have delivered against each theme of the IPA framework. We also asked some of our key stakeholders for their views to make sure we provide a balanced and realistic picture.

The key lines of enquiry for IPA

The assessment team looked at five key lines of enquiry that relate to three overall questions. These are:

1. What is the Agency, together with its partners, trying to achieve? The key lines of enquiry relating to this question are Ambition and Prioritisation, and they examine the long term vision and ambition of the organisation along with the extent to which action is targeted to areas of priority need within the region.
2. Has the Agency set about delivering its priorities for improvement? The key lines of enquiry relating to this question are Capacity and Performance Management and looks at how the Agency's resources are focused on its ambitions and priorities and how far performance is managed.
3. What improvements has the Agency achieved / not achieved to date? The key line of enquiry relating to this area is called Achievement and looks at what the Agency has delivered, facilitated or worked with partners to achieve in priority areas.

As part of the assessment process the IPA team contacted a range of stakeholders by questionnaire or by interview to gain their views on the RDA's performance. It also looked at existing intelligence on the work of the RDA from previous assessments and through its contact with Government departments.

The results of the assessment will be used to inform the organisation's improvement plan.

Contact 
 
Alison McNamara 
IPA Manager 
alison.mcnamara@southwestrda.org.uk